Last week the Obama Administration offered its first peek into where 2009 stimulus funds have been awarded, by state or territory.  That data shows how stimulus funds awarded to date range from a low of $2 per capita in Puerto Rico, $7 per capita in Rhode Island, and $12 per capita in Michigan all the way up to $950 per capita in Washington, D.C.  That’s despite the fact that Puerto Rico (15.0%), Rhode Island (12.6%), and Michigan (15.2%) have significantly higher unemployment rates than Washington, D.C. (10.9%). 

As the table below reflects, a total of 10 States or Territories have unemployment rates equal to or greater than the rate in Washington, D.C., yet received only a fraction of the stimulus funds per capita awarded so far.  As the Washington Post last week stated, “the reports suggest that the stimulus money is providing a particular boost for metropolitan Washington, even though the recession has less impact here than elsewhere. Virginia and Maryland are in the top dozen states for federal contracts awarded, and the District is ahead of big states such as Michigan, North Carolina and New Jersey.”

Sources: http://ows.doleta.gov/unemploy/trigger/2009/trig_101809.html and Ways and Means Republican staff calculations, based on http://www.recovery.gov/pages/textview.aspx?data=homeMapRecipient.

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